Ask Lucy: Practical Advice for the Modern Man

Stay safe Konakathy! Been through three major hurricanes! If possible batten down the hatches and leave the area. Come back when the wind and rain dies down. No good reason to stay. What wind speeds are you expecting?
 
Kona,

Best of luck. It looks like you are going to get a 1-2-3 punch. Very unusual that you see three hurricanes in a row. Genevieve doesn't look to be a problem since it is 1520 miles out from Hilo. Maybe a slight swell. Iselle on the other hand is going to be a direct hit. Good luck. Like Norm said you will be on the good side of Julio (for now) but it will be right behind Iselle. No time for a quick breather.

At least a case or two of bottled water, spare batteries, an extra flashlight, make sure your cell phone has a full charge, extra food that doesn't need refrigeration or heat to eat and some cash.

Good luck
 
Kona,

Best of luck. It looks like you are going to get a 1-2-3 punch. Very unusual that you see three hurricanes in a row. Genevieve doesn't look to be a problem since it is 1520 miles out from Hilo. Maybe a slight swell. Iselle on the other hand is going to be a direct hit. Good luck. Like Norm said you will be on the good side of Julio (for now) but it will be right behind Iselle. No time for a quick breather.

At least a case or two of bottled water, spare batteries, an extra flashlight, make sure your cell phone has a full charge, extra food that doesn't need refrigeration or heat to eat and some cash.

Good luck

Went through three myself. I always taped my windows with duct tape in an x pattern as I did not have hurricane shutters. Might keep your windows from shattering. Make sure you are somewhere safe. We laid in the hallway one night for eight hours with 90 mph sustained winds and 120 mph gusts. I said I would never do it again and I meant it. Oh yeah, fill your bathtub up prior to the storm so you can use it to flush the toilet if you lose water.
 
Thank you all for the good thoughts and advice. I went to Costco last night ( what a freakin' circus) and bought some water and food that is not perishable. What cracks me up is all the people that were buying toilet paper in bulk ! Am I missing the point of stocking up on TP? :laugh: Is there a survivalist trick to using TP in lieu of whatever? A person can only poop and pee so much. (Go ahead, say it, you-know-who.)

I'll give an update as it happens. The post office is being cool about sending us out to deliver mail. But they do expect us to report to work regardless. Yeah, right! I live 30 miles away from town. I'm not driving in that mess.

Aloha
 
Thank you all for the good thoughts and advice. I went to Costco last night ( what a freakin' circus) and bought some water and food that is not perishable. What cracks me up is all the people that were buying toilet paper in bulk ! Am I missing the point of stocking up on TP? :laugh: Is there a survivalist trick to using TP in lieu of whatever? A person can only poop and pee so much. (Go ahead, say it, you-know-who.)

I'll give an update as it happens. The post office is being cool about sending us out to deliver mail. But they do expect us to report to work regardless. Yeah, right! I live 30 miles away from town. I'm not driving in that mess.

Aloha

My sister-in-law lives in Tampa and she says that during their hurricane warnings that the three things that go the quickest are; water, TP and milk. Never understood the milk and TP thingy.
 
The last Hurricane I was in was Hugo, went right over my house. When I saw that thing coming I made preparations for about 2 days. Lined the bottom my chest freezer with plastic 1 gallon milk bottles full of water, when the electricity went out everything in the Frig went into the freezer. I bought 2 fifty five gallon plastic barrels and filled them with water and added one teaspoon of bleach. Bought 6 cases of bottled water 6 bags of charcoal, batteries and a battery powered radio. I had two 10 gallon gas cans full, Bunch of other stuff. The electricity was off for 2 weeks. BBQ TIME, every day!
 
Hey, KK...Wishing you the best of luck !

Around here (NW Florida), the "new" mantra is : "The first 72 is on you !!!" In other words, try to think of what you'll need to survive on your own for 72 hours. That doesn't sound like long, but it's amazing how long that SEEMS when you're living "back-to-basics" ! Think about other stuff like any Rx meds you may need...the pets (if any !)...Gas up the car is a good idea ; get some cash out of the ATM is also recommended, since if you lose power for any length of time, it's hard to use the old debit card. Tub filled with water is also standard advice.

72 hours is supposed to be when the relief agencies really begin cranking up...FEMA, etc. I suspect disaster response in Hawaii poses some unique challenges that we don't see here in the lower 48...for instance, FEMA usually begins trucking in ice by the ton, to try and preserve those reefer foods. OTOH, I've known people who, after the storm, just have a huge block party, and grill and share whatever food that might go bad ! :)

Another thing around here that amazes me is, the response from the utility companies...I guess they all have mutual support agreements, so when something bad happens, crews roll in from all over the place ! When we lived in Maryland, and had an ice storm that knocked us out of power for 4 days, we were finally brought back on-line by a crew from Florida Power and Light (South Florida) ! OTOH, when hurricanes hit in FL, you can see convoys of linemen, bucket trucks and pole trucks headed south on the Interstate from the likes of Duke Power (VA) and good old BGE (Baltimore Gas and Electric) ! Not sure how that would play out in the Islands, though....

A few other things...if you have cable phone and internet, DON'T expect those to be restored as fast as regular "utilities"...also, with cell phones, coverage may be spotty, but I've been surprised at how the major cell phone carriers beef up their emergency generators, etc, at their tower sites before a storm actually hits.

...and re: TP ? I never understood that one, either ! That's NOT unique to hurricanes, though...in MD, the same thing happens when they even HINT at a possible 1" of snow !!! The Wife and I started calling it "The White Death", the way folks reacted :) You should'a seen how fast they cancel school !!!


Stoplight...
 
I bet there isn't a ship docked at Pearl Harbor. Of course where would they go??? To the west and just a bit south Is Genevieve. To the northeast is Julio and coming at you dead center is Iselle. Oh! and this just up on the NOAA Hurricane page a tropical disturbance right on the heals of Julio.
 
Well, Hurricane Iselle is for real ! I took everyone's advice...just finished taping up my windows and removing everything off the lanai. I have water, food, cash, batteries and tp. Car is filled with gas ,but after I pau work tomorrow, I'll top it off. I'll charge my cell phone if the electricity is still on when I get home. Oh, and I'll fill up the bathtub before I go to work. *sigh* I really don't want to go through this by myself. I'll admit I'm a little frightened. I just keep telling myself I've been through tougher situations before, I can do it one more time. waaaaaaaaaaa ! :o I've attached 2 before photos taken from my lanai tonight...We'll see what the view looks like tomorrow evening. A hui hou !

Against Earlier Predictions, Hurricane Iselle Isn't Slowing Down



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